Self-dispensing dispenser

ABSTRACT

A shipping container for holding a plurality of stacks of nested articles in a like plurality of internal compartments is convertible to a dispenser by the provision of insertable dividers and portions of the container sidewalls being interconnected to form a dilatable, resilient, constricted opening at one end of the container. The sidewall portions are enabled at the point of use of the container by removal of sections of the sidewall corners and closure flaps at one end of the container which are defined by aligned performations permitting their removal. The sidewall portions are then constrained inwardly against bearing means on the insertable dividers, the latter including retaining means holding the sidewall portions in place. The container is then hung on a support in a vertical position with the constricted open end down, whereby the articles gravitate to a position in which portions of the lowermost articles in each stack are exposed to permit manual removal, one at a time, through the constricted open end of the container.

United States Patent Hollinger Aug. 12, 1975 1 SELF-DISPENSING DISPENSER [75] Inventor: Paul Hollinger, Randallstown, Md. 1 ABSTRACT [73] Assigneez Maryhnd Cup Corporation Owings A shipping container for holding a plurality of stacks Mills Md of nested articles in a like plurality of internal compartments is convertible to a dispenser by the provil Flledl 24,1974 sion of insertable dividers and portions of the con- [21 AppL NO; 491,525 tainer sidewalls being interconnected to form a dilatable, resilient, constricted opening at one end of the container. The sidewall portions are enabled at the 1 229/17 8; 221/310 point of use of the container by removal of sections of 1 '1 Cl 865d 5/72 the sidewall comers and closure flaps at one end of 1 Field 221/307, 308, 310 310 R; the container which are defined by aligned performa- 229/17 R, 17 B, 17 M 9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAUB 1 21975 3,899,118

SHEET 1 IZA I28 1 F76. 2A FIG 25 SELF-DISPENSING DISPENSER This invention relates to cartons and the like for holding and dispensing from a plurality of stacks of stacked, nested articles and more particularly to a carton or container structure which is convertible to a selfcontained multiple stack article dispenser at the point of use of the articles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When shipping stacked nested articles such as ice cream cones, drinking cups and the like, protective cartons are provided in which one or more stacks of such articles are shipped. In the case of ice cream cones and disposable drinking cups, it is commonplace to remove stacks or partial stacks of articles from the shipping cartons or containers and place them in a dispenser at the point of use that one such article at a time may be utilized.

Thus, edible and fragile articles such as ice cream cones must be handled one or more times outside their protective cartons with resulting breakage and possible contamination in transferring them from a shipping carton to a container.

Drinking cups and the like also require an undue amount of handling resulting in inconvenience and potential contamination.

If this additional handling of such articles at the point of use can be obviated, then breakage can be reduced, contamination substantially precluded and convenience of use enhanced.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel display carton for stacked nested articles which includes means to convert said carton to a self-contained dispenser permitting said articles to be dispensed one by one at the point of use thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and novel combined shipping carton and dispensing device for nested articles arranged in a plurality of stacks in the shipping carton.

These and other objects of the present invention will become more fully apparent with reference to the following specification and drawings which relate to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Basically, the present invention comprises a shipping carton divided into four elongated stacked article receiving compartments by two split, interleaved partitions, the latter having adjacent ends with inwardly tapered edge portions and each of the said edge portions having a locking tab protruding therefrom in the planes of the respective partitions.

The end portion of the carton adjacent the tapered ends of the partition members is formed with perforations permitting removal of a portion of the sidewalls of that end of the box such that the sidewalls may be pressed inwardly into the engagement with the tapered edges of the partitions to form a frustum of a pyramid.

Additional perforations are provided to pennit removal of material from the box sidewalls in the provision of slots indexed with the respective locking tabs on the tapered edges of the partitions. When the sidewalls are pressed inwardly into juxtaposition with the said ta pered edges, the tabs protrude through the slots and lock ento the several sidewall portions, thereby retaining them substantially juxtaposed with the tapered edges of the partitions in the desired configuration.

The lowermost edges, i.e., the ends of the sidewalls of the box or carton, thus form four restricted dispensing openings from the carton in cooperation with the two interleaved partitions.

The restricted openings are somewhat resilient and thus permit the dispensing of articles, one at a time, from each of the four stacks of articles in the carton.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view, in perspective, of the bottom end of the carton or container of the present invention and of the assembled insertable internal partitions of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of the two internal partitions of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective of the carton or container of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section of the present invention in its dispensing configuration;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken along line 5 5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the dispensing configuration of FIG. 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings and more particularly to FIGS. 1 5 the carton 10 of the present invention is shown as including a pair of internal partitions 12A and 128 which are conformally bifurcated to provide assembly slots 14A and 14B therein, respectively, to permit interleaving of the said partitions in a substantially orthogonal relationship so as to divide the interior of the carton 10 into four elongated internal compartments.

These internal compartments 16A, 16B, 16C and 16D are best illustrated by reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 in which the said compartments are shown as including respective stacks 18A, 18B, 18C and of nested articles such as ice cream cones 20.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B the internal partitions 12A and 128 have substantially symmetrically tapered convergent edge portions 22A and 22B, respectively, tapered inwardly to provide end edge portions 24A and 24B of reduced width on the said partitions.

These end edge portions 24A and 24B are located adjacent the lowennost end of the carton or box 10 when it is in the dispensing position and configuration shown in FIG. 4.

The converging side edges 22A and 22B of the inner partitions 12A and 128, respectively, which merge into the reduced end edge portions 24A and 24B, are provided with protruding tabs 26A and 268, respectively, adapted to cooperate with the adjacent sidewalls of the carton 10 as will be hereinafter more fully described.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3, the box 10 is shown as provided with a plurality of aligned perforations 28 which permit removal of end closure flaps 30, comer portions 32 and rectangular pieces 34, all of which, when torn 011" along the perforated lines 28, form four tapered flaps 36 having slots 38 defined therein.

In FIG. 1, the rectangular pieces 34 are shown removed in the provision of slots 38 in the tapered flaps 36.

When the closure flaps 30 and corner portions 32 of FIGS. 1 and 3 are removed by tearing them free or cutting them free along the aligned perforations 28, the tapered flaps 36 are forced inwardly against the tapered edges 22A and 22B of the internal partitions, causing the protruding tabs 26A and 26B to pass through the adjacent slots 38 and lock the tapered flaps 36 in position.

This causes a uniform peripheral restriction of the open mouth of the carton 10 through which a portion but not all of the stacked and nested articles 18A 18D can protrude.

in the case of ice cream cones, drinking cups or the like having a frusto-conical or similar tapered shape, the narrow tips or ends 18A] 18D] protrude from the open constricted end of the box 10, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, but are precluded from falling freely from the carton 10 by the engagement of the larger end of the bottommost articles 18A 180 in the several stacks with the inner walls of the convergent flaps 36.

Thus, referring to FIG. 4, if a hanger hole or part 40 is provided in one wall of the carton 10, the entire carton may be hung from a nail or hook 42 or the like on a wall or other support 44 and the various stacks of articles 18A 18D in the compartments 16A 16D will gravitate to the position shown for the articles 18C and 18D in FIG. 4.

Then, in order to remove articles 18A 18D one at a time from the compartments 16A 16D, one merely grasps the lowermost said article in a given stack and pulls it downward, flexing the two adjacent edges of the convergent flaps 36 outward between one of the tabs 26A and 26B and said adjacent side edges.

Before the next article 18A 18D in a given stack can pass out of the carton 10, however, the convergent flaps 36 snap back into place in the configuration of FIGS. 4 and 6 and engage the said next article to preclude it and the remainder of the articles in the stack from gravitating from the open end of the carton l0.

lt should be noted that in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the tabs 26A and 26B are in the configuration of downwardly facing hooks so that the flaps 36 will be held in their desired convergent configuration.

It is also contemplated to place varying degrees of taper to the side edges 22A, 22B of the inner partitions 12A, 12B and also those of the tapered convergent flaps 36 to vary the degree of constriction and the retaining force of the constricted end of the box or carton 10 on the contents thereof. The weight and strength of the articles themselves coupled with the particular shape thereof should be taken into account to preclude breakage during the dispensing process.

The carton 10 should be constructed of material having sufficient flexibility and resiliency to maintain the proper degree of convergence of the flaps 36 for the intended useful life of the carton 10. Various suitable grades of cardboard, plastic sheet material and the like are commercially available.

Alternatively, the edges of the flaps 36 can be notched, as shown in FIGS. and 6, to receive and maintain an elastic band 46 about the outer periphery thereof to assist the flaps 36 in returning to a relatively closed, article retaining position.

The cartons of the present invention may be readily shipped in groups in conventional packing containers and removed one at a time at the point of use thereof. Then, by merely performing the steps previously described by tearing or cutting the perforations 28, each carton 10 is converted to a dispenser for the articles contained therein at the point of use of these articles.

This obviates the need for handling the articles and transferring them from a shipping container to a dispenser. In the cause of edible or disposable containers for the consumption of food, beverage, medicines, etc., the present invention materially enhances sanitation at the point of use of such articles.

The present invention may be modified as would occur to one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A compartmented carton for stacked nested articles convertible to a dispenser for said articles at a desired point of use, comprising:

an elongated container having substantially rectangular sidewalls;

one end of said container having closure flaps and the end comer portions of said sidewalls defined by aligned perforations permitting removal of said flaps and said end comer portions to provide substantially symmetrically tapered flaps at the said one end of each of said sidewalls;

said tapered flaps being so tapered as to readily converge one with the other to form a constricted end opening in said carton;

insertable means in said carton defining a plurality of comparments therein with said sidewalls for holding a like plurality of stacks of said nested articles and having convergent surface portions adjacent said tapered flaps on said sidewalls conforming to the degree of convergence of said flaps; and retaining means engaging said tapered flaps and retaining said flaps against said convergent edge portions to provide a restricted dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said insertable means comprises coextensive crossed partitions having convergently tapered side edges forming said convergent surface portions;

wherein said tapered flaps each define a slot therein;

and

wherein said retaining means comprises integral tab means on said tapered side edges extending through an adjacent one of said slots and engaging the outer surface of a said tapered flap to constrain said flap into juxtaposition with a said tapered side edge of a said partition.

3. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said tab means has a hooked configuration extending toward the constricted open end of said carton to thereby lock said tapered flaps to said tapered side edge portions of said partitions.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.

5. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.

6. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.

7. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said retaining means comprises an elastic band mounted on said tapered flaps about the outer periphery and intermediate the extremities thereof.

8. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said tapered flaps include a plurality of notches formed in registry in adjacent edge portions thereof; and

wherein said retaining means comprises an elastic band extending around the periphery of said tapered flaps and mounted in said notches.

9. A compartmented dispenser for a plurality of stacks of nested articles permitting selective dispensing of said articles one at a time from each of said stacks, comprising:

an elongated hollow container of flexible sheet material having a plurality of tapered resilient flaps ad jacent one end thereof, said flaps being so shaped and so proportioned as to form a convergent dispensing opening in said container when inwardly constrained toward one another; divider means within said container defining a plurality of compartments therein for receiving a like plurality of stacks of nested articles to be dispensed', said divider means including a bearing surface adjacent each of said flaps for limiting the extent of convergence thereof; and retaining means engaging adjacent ones of said flaps and holding same against said bearing surfaces to maintain said flaps in a mutually convergent configuration. 

1. A compartmented carton for stacked nested articles convertible to a dispenser for said articles at a desired point of use, comprising: an elongated container having substantially rectangular sidewalls; one end of said container having closure flaps and the end corner portions of said sidewalls defined by aligned perforations permitting removal of said flaps and said end corner portions to provide substantially symmetrically tapered flaps at the said one end of each of said sidewalls; said tapered flaps being so tapered as to readily converge one with the other to form a constricted end opening in said carton; insertable means in said carton defining a plurality of comparments therein with said sidewalls for holding a like plurality of stacks of said nested articles and having convergent surface portions adjacent said tapered flaps on said sidewalls conforming to the degree of convergence of said flaps; and retaining means engaging said tapered flaps and retaining said flaps against said convergent edge portions to provide a restricted dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said insertable means comprises coextensive crossed partitions having convergently tapered side edges forming said convergent surface portions; wherein said tapered flaps each define a slot therein; and wherein said retaining means comprises integral tab means on said tapered side edges extending through an adjacent one of said slots and engaging the outer surface of a said tapered flap to constrain said flap into juxtaposition with a said tapered side edge of a said partition.
 3. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said tab means has a hooked configuration extending toward the constricted open end of said carton to thereby lock said tapered flaps to said tapered side edge portions of said partitions.
 4. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.
 5. The invention defined in claim 2, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.
 6. The invention defined in claim 3, wherein said tapered flaps comprise flexible resilient material to permit selective separation of adjacent ones of said flaps along a common boundary thereof, to provide a dilatable convergent dispensing opening for each of said compartments in said carton.
 7. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said retaining means comprises an elastic band mounted on said tapered flaps about the outer periphery and intermediate the extremities thereof.
 8. The invention defined in claim 1, wherein said tapered flaps include a plurality of notches formed in registry in adjacent edge portions thereof; and wherein said retaining means comprises an elastic band extending around the periphery of said tapered flaps and mounted in said notches.
 9. A compartmented dispenser for a plurality of stacks of nested articles permitting selective dispensing of said articles one at a time from each of said stacks, comprising: an elongated hollow container of flexible sheet material having a plurality of tapered resilient flaps adjacent one end thereof, said flaps being so shaped and so proportioned as to form a convergent dispensing opening in said container when inwardly constrained toward one another; divider means within said container defining a plurality of compartments therein for receiving a like plurality of stacks of nested articles to be dispensed; said divider means including a bearing surface adjacent each of said flaps for limiting the extent of convergence thereof; and retaining means engaging adjacent ones of said flaps and holding same against said bearing surfaces to maintain said flaps in a mutually convergent configuration. 